Welcome to Really Internet, the corner of the web devoted to unpacking only the most insane, believable, or insanely unbelievable theories the online world has to offer. Today we’re tackling time travel. There are a lot of theories reflecting on the accuracy of Doctor Who or the possibility of Star Trek’s many gadgets, but there’s something beautifully simple and unexplainable about one Futurama fan theory in particular. Let’s dive right into the madness, shall we?

WHAT’S THE THEORY?

What if one of the most quotable and meme-able shows to ever exist was actually a documentary? That’s the reality this Reddit theory proposes. Forget Back to the Future hoverboards. If you believe Reddit (you never should), we can expect suicide booths and Hypnotoad by the year 3000.

The original poster, muffindude27, posits that the creation of Futurama is similar to the Futurama episode “Yo Leela Leela,” where Leela (Katey Sagal) visits a neighboring planet filled with adorable aliens learning life lessons. Desperate to be a role model for her old orphanage, Leela makes a highly successful children’s show off of these cuddly creatures without giving them credit. According to the theory, Groening is doing a similar thing with the real people of the year 3000 — using their stories to make a profit in the past.

It should also be noted that, if we are to believe this fan theory holds water (why not) and if we’re subscribing to Futurama’s interpretation of time travel, this method of transportation is a bit complicated. As it was established in “The Late Philip J. Fry,” time only moves forward. People are not able to go “back in time” per se, but you can go forward in time enough that the universe resets itself. Basically, the episode posits that existence as a whole is set on a never-ending cycle. Based on this, Groening would have likely lived through his lifetime at least once, but he has lived long enough to see at least one additional cycle of the universe.

WHY IT’S QUESTIONABLE

Clearly this is an insane theory … unless Futurama’s take on time travel is proven to be accurate. The only wrench in this theory (besides the fact that wildly speculating about time travel is an absurd undertaking that will likely never be proven or disproven) are Futurama’s frozen heads. The frozen heads of important historical and pop culture figures are a mainstay in Futurama to the point that President Nixon’s floating head was the president / dictator of 3000 America for the entire run of the series. If Futurama is right about everything, where are all the floating heads? However, you could also argue that it would be irresponsible for the public to know about this program and the government is hiding secrets.

This is one of those theories that is so implausibly insane, you can basically explain away any and all contradictory evidence, so it dives into conspiracy theory territory a bit. But counterpoint? It’s a really fun theory to think about. A time traveller going to the past to create an accurate cartoon about the future only to have that cartoon constantly exist on the verge of cancellation sounds like a fantastic Futurama episode. Really, the only negative element of this theory is that it makes Matt Groening look more like a human and less like a television genius. I guess we won’t know what’s what until the year 3000. Hopefully time law will be up to the task.